Elections and Political Stabilization in Afghanistan
| Date | Thursday, December 8, 2005 |
| Location | Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 419 |
Dr. Deborah Alexander, the Senior Advisor to the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan will brief congressional staff on the role of elections in fostering political stabilization in Afghanistan. For the last 18 months she has served as the Embassy's primary election expert, working on both the 2004 and 2005 elections in Afghanistan, which completed the political commitments of the December 2001 Bonn Agreement. The elections were widely heralded as a success, but while political institutions have been created a robust political culture is yet to evolve. The security situation remains fragile and prospects for long-term reconstruction and development are unclear. What are the prospects for the new parliament? Will the fledging democratic process breed participatory democracy or paralysis? What role can the international community play in supporting the economic, political and security transition in Afghanistan?